Kim and I are on the plane on our way to one of our favorite real estate conferences, Inman Connect. For years Kim and I were holed up at the old DivaHQ in the basement of the Coldwell Banker Bain Capitol Hill office, just minding our own business and connecting with our other small business friends. The majority of our inspiration and tools came from outside of the industry.

July of 2012 we were invited to our first Connect in San Francisco. We were totally blown away by the bevy of amazing smarty-pants industry folks we met that first year. Many of these folks are our peers and meeting them gave us renewed hope for our industry. (Looking at you Nerd Nuggets, Greg Fischer, #LobeLife, Chris Nichols, Inman Team, #GenBlue Pals,  Stacie Staub, Katie Lance, and of course Kelly Mitchell!)

Big News: Our very own Kim has the great honor of speaking at Agent Reboot about New School Tools Do Old School Real Estate. Kim has been practicing for this presentation since the holidays and I have no doubt she is going to rock the New York stage like a Diva should. The presentation is definitely one of our best. I’m so excited! Check out the sneak peek video below:

1. Catching up with our Inman Connect and #GenBlue pals.
2. Meeting new folks who share our nerdy passion for good design, and a TRUE belief that home buyers and sellers (Diva Dwellers) are more than “leads” to be hunted down.
3. Learning how Team Diva can better optimize our systems to make sure our Diva Dwellers are the smartest and savviest folks in the market.
4. Socializing – Divas are really social. We have our NYC pals and our Real Estate peeps all in one place. To hot to handle.

Couple of Wishes (and okay, maybe a rant or two)

1. Dear vendors who have never worked with a first time home buyer or helped a seller during the recession: Please remember that we do help pay for your bills by using your products. Be nice when referring to us real estate agents.
2. Hey folks, a lot of us sassy, next generation real estate agents do use social media to effectively educate our peeps, market our listings, and get our community to know us in a more well-rounded light. The interweb is our friend and we would love it if we could take a sabbatical on the “Don’t post listings to Facebook” conversation. Let’s see how the industry plays this one out. The good peeps will always float to the top. And now there is Snapchat. So good!
3. Still looking for a user-friendly CRM program. And don’t tell me that entering information on four different screens is “user” friendly. My Divas and Divos are peoples people and need to be out on the street with their peeps. Not hold us all up with a clunky system. #NoExcuseForBadDesign

Also – I forgot to mention that the #WestCoastGurls are going to rule ICNY. Their outfits and combined brainpower is going to feel overwhelming at first. But no worries we are all real nice, bubbly, and just want to have fun!